Also on Wednesday, the Manning-to-Team-X rumor mill got chugging along nicely. It's believed that as many as a dozen NFL teams (12!) have been in contact with Manning's camp, or Manning's agent Tom Condon. However, CBSSports.com's NFL Insider Mike Freeman reported Thursday morning that some folks believe Manning's already narrowed his list. Freeman points to the Dolphins, Redskins and ... Broncos as the short list.

Despite the presence of Tebowmania, the Broncos (1) are absolutely interested in Manning. See: Freeman's report, as well as a report from Mike Klis of The Denver Post Wednesday, in which Klis says the Broncos will check in with Manning but believes they will likely stick with Tebow. That's probably more as a result of striking out on Manning, but as Freeman notes, maybe they're in play after all.

Or maybe the Seahawks (5) are the most aggressive team ... only they're going about it quietly. Albert Breer of the NFL Network reported they'd be the first team on the phone with Peyton Wednesday, and Peter King and Jim Trotter of Sports Illustrated both believe John Schneider and Pete Carroll would be in hot pursuit of Manning. It's interesting, as Doug Farrar of Shutdown Corner notes, because Schneider said at the combine that he wasn't interested in "passing camp" quarterbacks.

Thursday, Adam Schefter of ESPN named a couple additional teams as well. Most notably, he cited the Chiefs (6) as a suitor for Manning. They make a lot of sense. Schefter also listed the Titans (7) as a team that contacted Manning, but that goes contrary to what they said they'd do. Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean also reports that the Titans have not (6) had contact with Manning.

That's six teams, which is a lot. And yes, I'm ignoring the Titans. I'm also ignoring the Texans, who were already ruled out by King. So who are the other six teams?

Then there's a slew of cruddy teams that we should add off the bat: the Browns (8), the Bills (9) and the Jaguars (10) are all teams with quarterbacks. But they're also teams with quarterbacks who are not Peyton Manning. And if the respective GMs of those clubs didn't at least call and say "Hey, would he be interested in playing in our city for our team?" then they should be jailed for negligence.

So we need a pair of sleepers now. Let's rule out the rest of the AFC; for one reason or another, everyone has a quarterback. Let's also rule out the NFC East. We've already included the NFC West, sans the Rams. Only one team from the NFC South and the NFC North needs a quarterback.

So only two teams remain: the Vikings (11) and the Buccaneers (12). OK, Christian Ponder and Josh Freeman are both recent first-round picks, but this is Peyton Manning we're talking about. They'd be nuts not to at least inquire through backchannels if there was any possible interest.

If you think I missed someone, leave em in the comments. Or argue why your team deserves Manning.

For many teams in 2011, kickers were the most important players on the roster. Or, at least, the most important free-agent-to-be anyway. The Buccaneers, Jaguars and Broncos all qualify as teams with valuable kickers, and they've reportedly decided to franchise Connor Barth, Josh Scobee and Matt Prater, respectively.

The Jaguars have since confirmed that Scobee will receive the tag. But he's not happy about it.

"Josh is obviously disappointed in the choice to use the franchise tender," Scobee's agent Ken Harris told Ganguli. "While we have no plans of signing the tender at this point, we'll see if the long-term contract Josh deserves can eventually be reached."

Dawson was tagged last year, so he'll make $3.8 million in 2012. The rest of the kickers stand to make about $2.6 million in 2012 as guys who were tagged and receive a one-year, guaranteed contract from their respective teams.

And Prater is official now as well, with John Elway announcing the news on Twitter. (Where else, right?)

"Placing the franchise tag on Matt Prater ensures that he'll be a Bronco in 2012," Elway tweeted. "Matt's a very talented kicker & important part of our team. This gives us the ability to continue working on a long-term agreement."

Barth could be the fifth kicker tagged, but he has not yet been given that designation. There have only been reports that he could be tagged by the 4 p.m. ET deadline.

Scobee was outstanding in 2011, hitting on 92 percent of his field goals, including five of six from 50 yards or more. Barth hit two of three from 50 yards or more and also hit 92.9 percent of all his field goals. Prater only hit 76 percent of his field goals, but knocked down three of four from 50 or more yards, including a pair against the Bears that helped launch Tebowmania into the stratosphere.

Collins, a former University of Virginia player, was originally signed to the Giants' practice squad in April 2010. He spent the last two seasons in Jacksonville and will be an exclusive right's free agent this offseason. He played in 12 games in 2011 registering a half a sack and one pass defended.

The Times-Democrat reports that Collins was pulled over by a Virginia state trooper for illegal window tint, the officer noticed the smell of marijuana coming from the car and "found a duffle bag with marijuana joints in the trunk."

As an exclusive rights free agent, Collins can only sign with his previous team, assuming the Jaguars offer him a contract. The marijuana possession charge certainly doesn't help Collins' job prospects in Jacksonville -- where there's a new owner and a new head coach -- or elsewhere.

INDIANAPOLIS -- There are lots of questions about whether or not UNC defensive end Quinton Coples gives 100 percent on every play. And Coples was asked those questions almost immediately when he stepped to the podium in Indy for his combine media interview.

His logic for explaining away the perceived slacking that scouts and teams and people who watched football attached to his game is pretty outstanding, provided that you appreciate people who use insane excuses.

"I can see where it can look like that on film, but overall I felt like I did the right job and did the right thing sacrificing for my team and that was important to me at the time," Coples said. "I think I have long strides and things of that nature so it may come fast to me in the game and film will slow it down a little bit. People have their own opinions and some people don't even think it was a problem."

Think about that: Coples is so fast and so in-tune to the game of football, that the game simply starts to crawl for him and when you watch film it appears as if he's not trying. Except here's the problem: that's not how it works.

If the game slows down for you, you look faster. Not slower. A sign of a supernatural understanding of the game isn't "moving around lethargically," it's "doing things before anyone could imagine you doing them."

Here's the issue though: it's hard to blame Coples for not trying too hard his senior season. He was busted by the NCAA, eventually cleared, moved to defensive tackle for Marvin Austin, watched his coach get fired and spent his entire season answering questions not about his skill as a football player, but rather about potential NCAA penalties and UNC's issues off the field.

His effort is definitely an issue, and this won't be the last time Coples has to discuss it. But it's also kind of hard to blame him for checking out a little early, given everything that UNC went through.

Just in case the five wins in 2011 or the .500-or-worse records dating back to 2008 didn't make it obvious enough, new Jaguars owner Shahid Khan would like to add another item to the list of "sure signs your franchise is a failure." Those infernal tarps that cover seats in the upper deck of EverBank Field.

Officially, the stadium has 76,867 seats but the tarps cover some 10,000 seats. But the notion that fans don't support the hometown team is inaccurate. It's just that the stadium is too big for the NFL market. (And this isn't a slap at Jacksonville; Pittsburgh's Heinz Field holds fewer than 70,000, as does Indy's Lucas Oil Stadium.)

"The tarps aren't as shameful as they're perceived to be nationally. They bring the size of the stadium down to an appropriate size for the market, and it still seats more than the stadiums of NFL teams in bigger markets, including the Chicago Bears."

As PFT notes, EverBank Stadium has to be expanded to more than 80,000 for the Georgia-Florida game because the NFL isn't as popular as college football in Florida. Khan hopes to change that and it starts with those tarps.

"Absolutely," Khan told Sports Business Journal's Daniel Kaplan when asked if he hoped to do away with the tarps altogether. "To me, every day I look at the tarps it is like underachieving, and I can’t wait to be able to do that."

Khan was also asked about new marketing and sales initiatives.

The new owner with the new head coach. (US PRESSWIRE)

"Some of the upper bowl, we have reduced prices," he said. "One of the strategic issues with the Jaguars is it is a young team. We don’t have the second-, third-, fourth-generation fans. 'I went to a game with my grandfather, and we walked through two feet of snow,' — and things like that. You don’t have any of those connections. This year … if you bring a child to the game, those tickets are half price. In certain sections we are doing that … to really develop the next generation. "

Part of that includes expanding the Jaguars brand beyond the United States.

"London: There is an ex-pat population; they understand the sport and [have] an interest. Canada would be another one. Germany is another one. People don’t realize how many football fans, NFL fans, are in Germany. Spain is another one; Barcelona is a very sports-centric city. … Especially for teams like Jacksonville, it provides a showcase."

Ultimately, popularity comes down to one thing: winning. That's something the Jags haven't done since 2007, which was also the only time the franchise won a playoff game during Jack Del Rio's eight-plus years as head coach. Now that chore falls to new head coach Mike Mularkey and second-year quarterback Blaine Gabbert.

Maurice Jones-Drew had a fantastic personal season in 2011, but the same can't really be said for his team. The Jaguars struggled mightily on offense (MJD aside) and it cost Jack Del Rio his job.

We caught up with "MoJo" and OCNN correspondent/contest winner Cassidy Quinn on Radio Row in Indianapolis to talk about his burgeoning media empire, what kind of media member he is, whether Mike Mularkey can jump start the Jaguars offense, what the Jaguars need to acquire in the offseason, and if Blaine Gabbert's the answer at quarterback.

"100 percent I would have [drafted Tebow]" Khan said, via Gregg Rosenthal of PFT. "Absolutely ... Obviously the Rams drafted Sam Bradford, and I was talking to Wayne then on what they ought to do."

"I should have an offline conversation with you, OK? I’m going to absolutely talk your ear off,” Khan told WOKV this week. “Some of the stuff might not be politically correct, but I share your sentiment. I think, when is the next time Jacksonville is going to have an athlete like Tim Tebow?”

But wait -- there's more. Khan, who just signed general manager Gene Smith to a three-year extension, ripped the Jaguars draft history.

"I don’t want to get into 20/20 hindsight, and God help us, the draft record has not been the best with the Jaguars," Khan said.

Khan's correct: the Jaguars draft history hasn't been good, for the most part. (Our pal Maurice Jones-Drew, an absolute steal at 60th overall in 2006, might disagree though.) But if Khan thinks that drafting Tebow at 10th overall in 2010 would've been a smart decision based on anything other than business, he's sorely mistaken.

Which is probably why he told Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union that he would only have taken Tebow "after a trade down." There wasn't a whole lot of room to make that move, of course, because Tebow went just 15 picks later, when Josh McDaniels used one of the Broncos two first-round picks that year on the Florida quarterback.

And there's probably not a lot of room here for Khan either. Perhaps he was just saying that he loves Tim Tebow. Or perhaps he wished the Jags drafted Tebow to crank up the profitability.

But either way, he's undermining his players -- most notably current quarterback Blaine Gabbert -- and his general manager with a statement like that, and it's reason to press pause on the new-ownership party in North Florida.

It's not that uncommon to hear players on bad sports teams referred to as "bums," but it could take on a whole new meaning if Senate Bill 816 in Florida is approved. The bill is designed to make sports teams in Florida give back any money they received from public funds, on the grounds that said teams cannot prove they were housing homeless people in the stadium during nights off.

No, you read that right: according to the Miami Herald, when the Florida legislature passed a bill in 1988 to get public money for stadiums, they worked a provision into the bill that requires Florida sports teams like the Buccaneers, Jaguars, Dolphins, Rays and Heat -- as well as teams like the Phillies and Mets who hold spring training in Florida -- to house homeless people in their stadiums on non-event nights.

"We have spent over $300 million supporting teams that can afford to pay a guy $7, $8, $10 million a year to throw a baseball 90 feet. I think they can pay for their own stadium," said Sen. Michael Bennett, R-Bradenton. "I can not believe that we’re going to cut money out of Medicaid and take it away from the homeless and take it away from the poor and impoverished, and we’re continuing to support people who are billionaires."

Teams/stadiums are allowed to take up to $2 million per year according to the law. According to the Herald, Joe Robbie Stadium, built in 1994, leads the way with over $37 million taken from public coffers, with the Jaguars second at $35,166,737 and the Bucs sixth at just over $30 million. The Heat have also taken more than $27 million. And the grand total for all teams is $271,539,778.

But wait! There's more! Senator Bennett put another amendment in Senate Bill 816 that won't sit well with NFL teams: every game that was blacked would result in a fine to the franchise of $125,000, which would be used to purchase tickets to games for "foster children, active military members on leave and the less fortunate."

Senate Bill 816 already cleared the Community Affairs Committee and now must pass three more committees before heading for Senate floor. It seems unlikely that such a bill would pass, or that these franchises would cough up $300 million back the community.

But, hey, you never know. Politicians are crazier than any group of athletes. And it could ultimately end up explaining why the Bucs signed Albert Haynesworth.